UAE graduates fight job bias by applying anonymously

A pair of enterprising Emirati graduates aim to encourage students from job seeker Eliminate potential prejudice and discrimination.

Maimuna Rashid, 24, and Aqsa Khalifa, 23, set up students Profession A platform through which companies blindly select candidates based on the results of specific job challenges and assignments, rather than poring over resumes and LinkedIn profiles.

Companies that sign up to the program have no way of knowing an individual’s identity, background, age, nationality or gender.

Both business partners graduated with honors from Dubai Friendly University in 2019, but found navigating the job market a daunting task.

“We have high expectations of eventually getting the dream job, but no matter how skilled you are, the system has a flaw in identifying the right people and the right talent,” said Ms Rashid, who is from Bangladesh and owns Indoor Bachelor of Design.

“The recruiting process needs to evolve, and instead of recruiting young people based on their CV and social background, they are hired for their skills, potential and talent.”

The two make their plans to deal with high unemployment across the Middle East and North Africa.

“We have a massive unemployment problem in the region and we analysed all possible solutions and understand that this is a three-tiered problem.”

They said their three-pronged approach included tweaking recruitment processes, improving training for youth and raising awareness of the need to create a fairer job market.

cultural change

Ms Rashid said young people had a responsibility to develop their skills to keep pace with emerging industries, including the rise of digital currencies.

But she called for a radical change in the hiring culture, which tends to alienate students who cannot afford top universities.

“There are different categories of universities that have higher recognition in our society, and if a person can’t afford them, they’re missing out,” Ms Rashid said.

“We need to change our mindset.”

Through Pupilar, she said, the team was able to talk to the organization’s recruiting leaders and question their practices.

“We can’t completely eradicate this culture of prejudice, what we can do is minimise this way of hiring young people and that’s going to go a long way. I think it’s a movement, it’s going to take time, it’s not going to happen overnight. .

“We pride ourselves on diversity in the UAE. But it’s interesting that when you go to recruit, a certain level of discrimination happens.”

Some companies specify the gender of a job title, but often drop that requirement when asked about such discrimination, she said.

How do pupils work?

Pupilar targets people aged 15 to 35 and has a network of 54,000 graduates and students.

The platform is free for job seekers and only charges companies for using the service.

Ms Khalifa said the challenges candidates faced were essentially tests that could be tailored to specific jobs.

“We didn’t want to be a one-size-fits-all system that already exists. What sets us apart is the challenge of the model itself,” said Ms Khalifa, also an interior design graduate.

“The challenge system makes screening easier, but also makes it very specific to your needs.

“Once they complete the challenge, we recommend top talent to employers. For certain roles, we need to share resumes, otherwise we share skills profiles.”

She believes the system will better help employers find the right candidates.

She said the system could help employers understand a person’s potential in the role they were hired for.

Ms. Rashid and Ms. Khalifa are recipients of the UEP Accelerator Program organized by the Mohammed bin Rashid Innovation Fund.

They want to get funding to support their projects.

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Updated: 10/14/2022 3:45am